The dreamy pop refinement of Cocteau Twins’ ‘Heaven or Las Vegas’

• By Joshua Pickard
• NOOGA Today
• 25-Feb 2017

The transition from the pop decadence of the ’80s to the grunge and indie rock renaissance of the early ’90s allowed countless artists the opportunities to stretch their sound and experiment with some off-the-wall production. A sense of liberation and freedom spread across the musical spectrum, a result of the changing of the guards from one decade to the next. Musicians who had spent many years wading through a specific aesthetic broadened their approach and took some risks in calculating a trajectory into the early years of the ’90s.

Among those looking to redefine their individual melodic proclivities was a Scottish rock band called Cocteau Twins. Initially composed of guitarist Robin Guthrie, singer Elizabeth Fraser and bassist Will Heggie (although Heggie would later be replaced by multi-instrumentalist Simon Raymonde), the band made a name for themselves through their unique blend of dreamy pop theatrics and fuzzed-out goth rock. They successfully balanced between these two extremes and created a foggy pop-rock subsidiary that paved the way for recent bands like Beach House and Wild Nothing.

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